Everything Is Broken
by lookingatstars
Summary: When Toby starts to hear voices that come from other sources how will he cope, and what does a three year old girl have to do with anything? Can the voices be stopped or will Toby turn insane
1. Prologue

**A/N**This fic is not an excuse to google Craig Olejnik without feeling like a stalker, it's not I promise. 

**Disclaimer**: I don't own listener, I never will if I did well Craig I mean Toby will be put under a lot more suffering

**Spoilers**: For the last episode of Series One but you don't have to have seen it I'll explain it all at a later date, it helps but it's not necessary.

**Rating:**__Strong T

**Everything is broken**

Prologue 

Toby leant against the side of his seat beside him Oz kept throwing him worried glances; his hand was clenched so tight that his fingernails were digging in to the palm of his hand.

"You alright man?" The question disturbed his piece and the low hum of thousands of thoughts returned uninvited into his head. Toby's palm started to bleed slightly but he didn't notice. "Dude you look like you're having a seizure man, what's wrong?" Oz pulled into the side of the road and Toby began to breathe deeply calming himself down.

"I'm fine. Come-on lets get to work," Toby said curtly pretending the earlier attack hadn't happened.

"Did you get a hit or something? Does anyone need help?" Oz made no effort to begin moving again_ I wish you would give me a straight answer_ the thought burst through his shields and Toby sank into his seat all sense of control forgotten as he allowed the world back into his head.

"I'm fine! I'm fine okay!"

_You looked like you were having a seizure_

"I wasn't having a seizure, now let's get to work or Ryder will kill us!"

The orange Honda pulled back into the traffic and the pair sat in an uncomfortable silence for the rest of the journey.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

They arrived at the house, it was an ordinary street on the outskirts of the city residents were wondering around watching with a perverse curiosity at the house.

"Neighbours heard a gunshot." Toby turned to see Charlie standing behind him.

"Are you feeling better now then?" Toby asked.

"Toby it's been six weeks, I'm fine,"

"Well thanks for you know…"

"Toby the neighbours heard a gunshot. We'll talk later" Charlie said curtly and gesturing towards the house.

Toby ran into the house behind the police, the downstairs was devoid of life along with the upstairs.

_Mommy, wake up, I'm scared_

Toby turned towards the voice and glanced towards a door under the stairs which presumably lead to the basement, he stalked towards the door and swung it open revealing a flight of stairs, the bottom of which was shrouded in darkness.

"Hello?" Toby's voice echoed in the room and he got a flashlight out of his belt and continued down the stairs scanning the room for any sign of life.

_Mommy wake up mommy, I'm scared and you're making me all wet and sticky. _

Toby turned and shone the torch under the stairs and into the bright terrified eyes of a little girl in a blue dress that had been stained with blood. "Guys! They're down here" he shouted. Toby moved towards the little girl and the women beneath her. He bent over and felt for a pulse but her skin was cold and most of the bleeding seemed to have originated from the middle of her chest to the right of her heart.

More people came running into the basement and Toby picked up the little girl leaving two other paramedics to work on the mother trying to resuscitate her despite all the odds. In his arms the little girl shifted slightly.

_I want mommy._

"The doctors are going to try to make your mommy better, okay. Can you be a big brave girl for me?"

_Yes_

"Good girl, now I am going to take you to the hospital okay. Does anything hurt?"

_I want mommy_

The girl said nothing as Toby lay her on a gurney outside the ambulance he put blankets over he and strapped her in. Oz pulled up the wheels and they rolled her into the back of the ambulance and Oz ran to the front while Toby sat in the back with the girl. The journey was largely uneventful as Toby placed an IV in case of shock and the little girl just repeated the plea for her mommy silently, she didn't even make a sound when Toby inserted the IV needle.

At the hospital she was wheeled straight into one of the ER cubicles and Liv began to check if she was injured. Toby and Oz stood leaning against the wall.

"So earlier, are you gonna talk about it?" Oz asked looking at Toby with a serious look on his face.

"There's nothing to talk about, I just got a bit overwhelmed by all the voices. It can be hard to shut them out sometimes."

"And that's it," Replied Oz looking sceptical at Toby's nonchalant attitude.

"Yes that's it." Toby said sharply not meeting Oz's eyes.

"Whatever you say man"

_Sometimes he can be such a prick, I'm meant to be his best friend. _

"I heard that," Toby said.

"Well it's true and it's about time you realised it" Oz said before wondering off in the direction of the reception to try and chat up the new receptionist.

Toby leaned against the wall _dammit I forgot my toothbrush OWWWW this doctor I dog cheese fuck I would do her cable look up on youtube could kill him hate hospitals phone blood_. He clutched his head as hundreds of thoughts invaded his mind and he was instantly brought back to his first day in middle school where the sheer number of people in the corridors had caused him to break down. Toby slipped down the floor and sat with his head between his knees willing the whole hospital to stop thinking.

_**You could burn it William, **_a _flash of images crossed his mind with him walking between the flames as everyone he knew burned around him, __**Go-on I know you want to,**__ more images of the whole hospital burning with the little girl asleep in her bed in the middle of it, __**It would be so easy just set a couple of the curtains on fire and the whole hospital would go down in flames,**__ Toby saw more images of the whole ER exploding __**Go on William, your mother did. **_

Toby lurched up, he was surrounded by nurses and doctors. In front of him Liv was kneeling down with a torch in her hand, he fell back to the floor and vaguely wondered how he had got from leaning against the wall to lying in the middle of the ER. There was something wet on his face and he moved his hand up to feel the blood pouring out of his nose.

"Toby, can you hear me!" it was only then that Toby realised that Liv was talking, he tried to form a coherent answer but could only moan in response. "Okay you guys get him onto a bed," Liv was speaking again but Toby couldn't process what she was saying, his mind was muggy and confused. Vaguely he felt himself being lifted up into the air and onto something soft.

_**William you're being naughty!**_

Toby tried to struggle slightly desperate to escape the hospital and the voice. However that latest attack had left him weak and Toby couldn't escape the feeling that the voice wasn't coming from the hospital but from a lot further away.

"Toby, calm down" It was then that the worried face of Liv came back into view and Toby realised that he had been struggling against the people around him trying to escape the voice.

"Is he okay? What happened?" It was then that Oz skidded into view holding a coffee cup that had spilled all over his hand but he hadn't noticed. Oz leaned in to inspect Toby.

"Mm'fine" Toby slurred his eyes were feeling heavy.

"What happened?" Oz turned to Liv for his answer.

"I don't know I just turned around and he was having a seizure, I'll order some tests but I have a sneaking suspicion that it could be because of the whole telepathy thing" Liv's voice turned to a whisper at the end of her sentence not wanting any curious nurses to hear.

People's thoughts were returning to Toby's head with a vengeance now and rather than fighting it he let them full his head into a low humming noise which was making him even more tired.

_**I'm coming to find you!**_

**A/N **So review people and tell me what you think,

Also I am looking for a grammar Nazi beta so if you are up for the job PM or ask in the review.

Oh and review


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N**Okay so I think that by writing this chapter I have invented a new type of whump named mind-whump.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Listener, I never will. If I did, well, Craig I mean Toby would be put under a lot more suffering.

**Spoilers**: For the last episode of Season One, but you don't have to have seen it, I'll explain it all at a later date; it helps but it's not necessary.

**Rating:**__Strong T

**Beta:** Thanks to Cassie7879 for putting up with random phone calls, emails, Skype calls, IM conversations, texts and mobile calls whenever I wanted to talk to her. Also thanks to Lone Tred for all the amazing grammar skills.

**Anonymous Review Replies**:

Laebeth:Thanks for the review; I am glad you like it. I am glad that it is what you have been waiting for.

Mandje: Here you are, an update and I am afraid Toby gets a bit more mind-whumping.

Chapter 1

_Mommy, where are you?_

Toby awoke to the sound of the little girl once again, calling out for her mother. He sat up in bed and looked across the semi-dark ER at her. She looked back him, her blue eyes open wide; she seemed to be frightened and the confusion was clear on her face. Toby slid out of bed – thankfully he was still in his EMS uniform – and trotted over to her bed.

"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked.

"I want Mommy." This was the first time Toby had heard her speak and she sounded even younger than her years.

Toby smiled at the little girl. "Well I don't know where she is right now, but I'll ask my friends and then I'll tell you. Deal?"

"Deal?" she asked back, quite confused.

"Okay, so what's your name?" Toby asked.

"Sarah Don— Donnelly." The little girl tried to pronounce her name.

"Sarah Donnelly," Toby confirmed, and the little girl nodded in response. "Well my name is Toby. Do you know what happened?" The girl shook her head.

_A gun and the face of her mother flashed across her mind along with a teddy bear being held in someone's hand whose fingernails were long with red nail polish covering them. _

Sarah yawned and snuggled into Toby's arm, her eyes were drooping and her mouth opened in a small yawn. Toby watched as her eyes closed and she fell into a sleepy haze before detaching himself from her grasp. He stood up and walked across the room to the door. The corridor was almost deserted save for two nurses and a homeless man talking to himself incessantly.

_They're coming.._

_Gotta warn everyone. _

_Escape. _

_Hide._

Toby smiled slightly at the normalcy of it all. He snuck through another set of doors that led into the main reception area of the ER. There was a clock hanging loosely on the flaky wall that read three in the morning. Toby had been out for about five hours, longer than he had in the last six weeks. He walked across the reception area and out into the ambulance bay intending to get his jacket before sneaking home. Oz, Ray and Olivia stood by the ambulances talking.

Toby leant against the wall and used Oz's mind to listen into the conversation. He was feeling only slightly guilty about eavesdropping.

"_Well, his nose was bleeding, so maybe it was nothing to do with the whole mind-reading thing and maybe there's something medically wrong with him_," Liv said, the doctor in her going for the most obvious conclusion.

"_Possibly, he was occasionally overwhelmed as a child but there was never anything physically wrong with him_,"Ray said, being vague about what actually happened when he got overwhelmed as a child to Toby's relief.

"_He looked really ill earlier and he said it was because he got overwhelmed_,"Oz said in an oddly un-Oz-like sincere way.

"Not talking about me, I hope," Toby smiled as he walked over to the gossiping group, his trademark cocky grin, but the three angry faces that turned on him did not seem to notice.

"Why aren't you in bed?" Liv was the first to recover.

"Cause I – " Toby started but was rudely interrupted

"Toby, you had a seizure in the middle of the ER, what are you doing up?" Oz practically yelled. "You're covered in blood!"

"But – "

"Toby, what happened?" Ray said in his usual calm, scientific manner.

Toby didn't feel up to discussing the psychopathic voice that liked to burn things. "Nothing, really. I couldn't shut out the voices, but I'm fine now and I want to go home."

Ray pulled out his keys. "Fine, but I'll drive you," he said to the protests of Liv and Oz.

"Guys, seriously, I'll be fine. There's no point taking up valuable ER space." Toby tried to reason with them but was failing miserably.

"No way, man," Oz said, refusing to back down. "If you're going home, I'm coming with you" He said, teaming up with RayLiv.

"Me, too," Olivia added, concerned for her boyfriend.

"So, what, we're all gonna have a slumber party? Can we have a pillow fight and play Truth or Dare?" Toby tried to joke with them, but they didn't look impressed.

_You can be such a jerk sometimes_,Liv thought, which sobered Toby up and he nodded in reluctant agreement.

Liv and Oz both drove in their own cars, leaving Toby to ride with Ray. They sat in an awkward silence, but Ray didn't seem to mind waiting for Toby to say what had really happened.

"I'm hearing… voices." Toby said looking at Ray nervous for his reaction.

"You're a telepath, you're always hearing voices. How are these ones different?" Ray asked.

"They don't come from anyone that I can see and they are a lot stronger than my normal hits and make me ill," he said.

"Is that all?" Ray turned to him slightly and raised his eyebrows.

"They tell me to do stuff," he mumbled.

"Like what?" Ray slowed down slightly, his voice sounding somewhat worried.

"Well, it wanted me to burn down the hospital, I could see it in my head," Toby sounded very young and Ray was reminded of the guilty teenager that he had posted bail for ten years ago.

"Has this happened before?"

Toby shifted in his seat. "Pretty much every night for the last five weeks, it always tells me to do something else. It said my mom heard it too – am I crazy?"

"No, we'll figure this out, don't worry." Ray pulled into the parking lot and they got out of the car. They walked to Toby's apartment in silence, each one contemplating the previous conversation. As Toby slid open the door, he noticed Oz drooling slightly in his sleep on the sofa; meanwhile, Liz was drinking a cup of coffee in the kitchen.

Toby ignored them, went to his room, and flopped onto his bed, not intending to sleep but instead staring at the ceiling tiles, his eyes blurry in a state of almost meditation. He smiled as Oz's dream, which had previously been a vaguely explicit dream about the new receptionist, turned into one about him being chased down a hill by a giant peanut.a giant peanut chasing him down a hill.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

The next morning seemed to pass in a blur of nothingness for Toby. After a thorough investigation from Olivia, it was decided that he could work, but if he felt even vaguely ill then he was to go home, and he was going have an MRI at some point in the day. Ray had returned to the university at about six so Toby didn't have a chance to talk to him before he was gone. Oz and Liv kept expressing their discomfort at him going back to work via both speech and their thoughts.

Oz and Toby slid into the orange Honda. Toby pulled out a bag of peanuts from the back seat and offered them to Oz, but he turned a sickly green colour and declined as politely as he could. The pair continued their journey chatting lightly as they pulled up to the hospital. As they stood in the ambulance bay waiting for a call, Ryder walked towards them.

"You clear to work, Toby?" Ryder asked.

"I'm fine, sir." Toby smiled up at him.

"Yeah, doc checked him out this morning," Oz chipped in.

"I didn't ask you, I asked Toby." Ryder snapped at Oz, then stalked off in the opposite direction. Toby chuckled slightly. Suddenly remembering about the little girl, he said goodbye to Oz and ran up to the ER.

The girl was sitting perched on her bed; Charlie had a notebook out and was gently asking questions.

_Mommy, I want my mommy_, the little girl thought.

Toby looked around the ER and saw Liv leaning against the reception desk.

Toby asked Liv, "Do you know what happened to that little girl's mother?"

"Who, Sarah?" Toby nodded. "Unfortunately, she didn't make it." _Poor girl, all alone. I wonder if she has any family_,Liz added mentally. 

Toby thanked Liv and went over to Sarah's bed. Charlie nodded at him as she left but made no effort to speak to him; reading her mind, all he heard was "Shout" by Tears for Fears repeatedly going round her head.

"Toby." Sarah's voice made him glance over at her and he sat in the chair that Charlie had just vacated. "Where's Mommy?"

Toby breathed out, considering how to phrase his answer. "Mommy's gone to a deep sleep and she's gone to heaven…. One day you'll see her again."

"I don't undastand." She looked confused.

"Do you know what heaven is?"

"Nana went to heaven."

"Well, your Mommy is in heaven with Nana." Toby sighed, hoping that she'd understand.

"Oh," Sarah seemed on the edge of tears. "Will I see her again?"

"Yes, one day," Toby pulled Sarah up and hugged her; she didn't cry, and Toby suspected she still didn't understand what was going on. "Do you have any family? What about your daddy?"

Sarah shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. Will you catch the bad man with the metal thing?"

"Yes, I'll catch them for you."

"Promise," She looked up at him; her face bore a startling resemblance to the Cat in Shrek 2, not that Toby or Oz would ever admit to going to a late night showing of that film.

"Promise," Toby smiled and rustled her hair slightly.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLS

The ambulance pulled up to the park, and Oz pulled the gurney out of the back of the ambulance while Toby grabbed the bags. They ran over to the playground where a herd of mothers stood in a circle around the swings. Oz and Toby pushed their way through the crowd. In the middle lay a little boy, his head bleeding furiously, his eyes shut tightly. A woman who Toby assumed was his mother was kneeling atop him, crying desperately.

"Move out of the way," Toby said, and Oz pulled the woman back while Toby checked for a pulse and that he was breathing. Once he was satisfied that both were occurring regularly, he placed the neck brace and hoisted him up onto the gurney and Oz helped to strap him down.

_Toby saw a little girl playing on the swings. She was laughing, and bore a striking resemblance to Sarah. Her mother was pushing her and she kept screaming, "Higher! Higher, Mommy!"_ Toby turned in the direction of the thought and saw a pair of eyes peering through the bushes. "Look after the boy," Toby said and ran towards the eyes. They were blue like Sarah's and as he got closer he saw them turn and a man ran out of the bushes, up into a street of houses at the other end of the park. Toby reached the street and looked around; it was devoid of life. Toby turned and jogged back to the ambulance and jumped into the back with the little boy's mother.

As they drove, the little boy began to regain consciousness and Toby worked on placing an IV into the boy's hand while the mother stroked his other hand and whispered words of reassurance into his ears.

"Hello? Can you talk?" Toby said to the little boy.

"Head hurts," he said in a small voice.

"What's your name?"

"Simon." The boy turned to look at his mother.

"Why are you asking these questions?" she asked accusingly

"Just checking for concussion, don't worry." Toby said as the lady started to stroke her son's hair in a worried manner. "Now then, Simon, how old are you?"

"Nearwly five."

"Ooh, big boy now, are we?" The boy nodded and flinched slightly at the pain. Toby smiled as Oz drove them into the drop-off zone and then he wheeled Simon into the very capable hands of Olivia.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

"Have you seen a man hanging around here? He's about 5'10" with blue eyes and grey-black hair." The woman Toby asked shook her head in response and Toby walked over to another lady with flaming red hair and repeated the question.

"_What are you doing hanging around a playground you pervert!" the red haired lady yelled._

_The man replied, "I was just looking at that girl, trying to figure out if – "_

"_Freak, I'm calling the police!" The lady then punched him in the face and blood spurted out of his nose. "You stay away from my little girl!"_

"He was a pervert, always hiding in the bushes – he was scaring the kids," the red-haired lady said, making no reference to what she had thought.

"Do you know where he might be?" Toby asked.

"I saw him in the alleys behind those houses a few days ago," she replied.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." _Better go now, take Matilda to karate._

Toby wandered over to the houses he had chased the man to a couple of hours previous. He inspected the street for an entrance to an alley and spotted one between two houses, both of which were rundown and boarded up. Toby jogged towards the dark entrance and peered down it.

The alley was full of bins and the garbage made the air smell rotten and stale. It was quiet and not even the rats that might have feasted on the garbage made a sound; it was almost eerie. It was then that Toby spotted a hunched figure towards the end of the alley: he was curled up in a ball and seemed to be crying; a newspaper was clenched tight in his fist.

_It can't be, Sarah is all on her own now._

Toby bent down to his eye level. "Are you okay?"

"Mm'fine." Toby sniffed and he could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"What about Sarah?"

The man looked up, startled and seemingly afraid, his bright blue eyes confused. "How do you know? Who are you?"

"I'm the paramedic who brought her in," Toby said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice.

"From earlier," Toby nodded in response. "She's my daughter. Really beautiful, isn't she."

"Yes, she is. Do you want to come to the hospital?" Toby asked.

"No, I can't look after her, I work in a paper factory for eight bucks an hour, I can't raise a kid. Go away! She'll be better in care!" _She'll be safe._ And with that the man got up and ran to the end of the alley and down the street into the darkness of the twilight.

"Dammit!"

LSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Toby stared at the laptop screen. He had searched for Sarah Donnelly's birth certificate on every one of his usual sites but each one had come up empty: according to his computer, she didn't exist and without the birth certificate he had no way of tracking down her father. He hit the laptop in frustration and collapsed back on his sofa.

Suddenly the whole room seemed to be on fire, words etched into the ceiling written in flame. 'William, I'm coming for you.' Toby screamed and jumped off the sofa and onto the floor, crushing the laptop.

"Go away! Why won't you leave me alone?"

Words appeared, written in black, all across the walls. 'Will you do as I say?' The fire on the ceiling burned with more ferocity and the whole ceiling was on fire; the heat was burning through his skin and clothes. The air was thick with smoke and Toby felt like he was drowning in it and he could feel blood pouring out of his nose and into his mouth but he paid no attention to it.

"Yes!"

The fire and the writing disappeared and Toby was left shaking and bleeding in the middle of his living room floor, his laptop broken beneath him. He was breathing hard and he could still feel the fire burning on his skin.

_**Good!**_

The word felt like fire in his head and the world promptly turned black around him.

**A/N**So review people and kudos for whoever spots the tiny Supernatural reference.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N**Okay so this is more of a filler chapter than the previous ones but I hope you like it.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Listener, I never will. If I did, well, Craig – I mean, Toby would be put through a lot more suffering.

**Spoilers**: For the last episode of Season One, but you don't have to have seen it, I'll explain it all at a later date; it helps but it's not necessary.

**Rating:**__Strong T

Chapter Two

Toby awoke on the hardwood floor of his apartment. His nose was covered with cracked, dried blood; he felt as if he had not slept at all. The sun was filtering through his blinds, and the broken laptop was digging into his chest creating painfully deep indentations on his skin. He sat up, inspecting the room. The black writing on the wall had gone and the ceiling was un-burnt, looking the same as it did every morning. Toby glanced at the kitchen wall: the clock read seven a.m. He stood up and wandered towards the bathroom to have a shower and clean up before Oz came to pick him up for work.

Toby stood in the shower letting the hot water stream over him, soothing his muscles, and allowing himself to relax. He could see the next door neighbours waking up and the two teenage children having a furious but silent fight over the TV remote; he watched through their weary father. Above him, the newlyweds were having morning sex – he quickly left their minds. Toby spiked his hair up in the wetness before letting the water flatten it back down again.

_**William, are**__** you going to be a good boy?**_

The voice hit Toby like a tonne of bricks. He felt the prominent sensation of dizziness, and of blood trickling out of his nose and down his wet body. "What do you want?" His voice cracked slightly.

_**Answer my question**__**.**_

Toby nodded and slid down the tiled wall. He put his head between his knees trying to regain consciousness.

_**Good decision**__**.**_

The strange buzzing sound that seemed to accompany the voice was gone and he sat under the stream of now cold water and waited. He was staring at the water going down the drain, the thoughts of the apartment buildings just a low hum in his mind. Toby made no effort to shut the voices up, waiting for the other one to come back. A few weeks ago, the rational part of Toby's brain would have told him to go to Ray. However, after five weeks of constant disturbing dreams with the detrimental attacks when he wasn't in a state of unconsciousness, Toby thought that he shouldn't. Toby was so sleep deprived that his brain was frazzled; he could hardly tell if he were dead or alive, and he wouldn't mind either one.

"Toby, dude, are you ready? Hurry up, man, we gotta go." Toby didn't move at the sound of Oz's voice. The water was now so cold he had begun to shiver slightly, but somehow this was a very peaceful experience.

Toby's nose began to bleed again and the buzzing noise which signalled another attack returned with a fiery vengeance.

_**Get rid of**__** Oz, he's getting in the way of our plan.**_

"What? No!" Toby shouted and jumped out of the shower shaking his head furiously and clenching his fist, trying to shut the voice up.

"Toby! Are you alright in there?" Toby curled up into the foetal position on the floor. "Toby!" Oz started banging on the door.

Toby stood up and, breathing deeply, pulled on his EMS uniform and slid out of the bathroom. "Hey, Oz." Toby smiled meekly, hoping to reassure Oz that he was ok.

_What the hell is going on with him?_

"Nothing, I'm fine," Toby wiped his nose and the blood stuck to his hand.

"Don't lie to me, I thought there were no more secrets between us." _Anymore_,he added silently. 

"It's hard to explain, but I will, okay? I promise. I've got to call Ray first, though, and try to figure out what's going on with me."

_How can I trust you__ if you can't trust me?_

"You can trust me and I do trust you, I just don't want to freak you out. Let's get to work, come on."

_Great__, you changed the topic._ "Whatever, man, let's go." Oz stared at Toby. _I know you can hear me, just tell me what's going on._

Toby grabbed a cereal bar off the counter and followed Oz out of the apartment; the voice inside his head was silent but he felt as if it was the quiet before the storm. His nose had stopped bleeding, but he still held a bloodied tissue to wipe away the rest of the blood before work. The ride to the hospital was silent apart from the noise of the engine.

When they got there, they found Ray standing in the ambulance bay waiting for Toby.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Toby asked, walking towards him.

"Just checking up on you," Ray said. "Has anything happened, Toby?" he asked in a questioning tone.

"It set my apartment on fire but it wasn't on fire, wrote 'William, I'm coming for you' in flames, then black writing appeared on the walls saying 'will you do as I say?'. I said I would, Ray." Toby's voice cracked slightly and he said the whole sentence very fast.

"Then what happened?"

"In the shower it came back, told me to wait, so I did, I don't know how long for, but when Oz came in it… it… it told me to kill him, Ray." Toby's eyes were scared.

"But you didn't."

"Obviously." Toby smiled slightly but it did not reach his eyes.

Ray seemed satisfied but it was clear he could sense that Toby had left some information out. Toby's pager started buzzing and he called to Oz from across the room, "Fire downtown, come on, Oz."

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

The heat was intense and Toby was instantly reminded of the day previous in his apartment. Images of how the flames had licked and burned his skin, how they had sucked the oxygen out of the air filled his mind. Toby shook his head slightly as one of the fire-fighters was carrying a young woman out of the building and he had to get back to work.

The girl was so badly burnt you couldn't determine her age. Her hair had been burnt off, and there were burns that were covering her scalp and face. Her chest and arms were also burnt and the blood vessels close to the skin had burst, making her body slick with blood. Her legs looked as if a burning piece of wood had landed on her causing a thick black line of horrific burns across both thighs to her kneecaps. However, the worst was her eyes: the eyelids had been burnt off, they were red and bleeding; however, the blue of her irises remained, a permanent gaping stare.

"I've got no pulse, start the CPR," Toby said. Oz ran to her other side and while Toby held the bag valve mask over her mouth, squeezing it at the appropriate times, Oz pulled a defibrillator out of the red first aid bag.

"Clear," Oz said and Toby pulled the mask away from her face for a second. "Still no pulse," Oz said after checking again. "Clear." Oz put his hand on the un-burnt part of her neck and checked for a pulse, "We got her."

Toby and Oz grinned at each other and attached the neck brace before putting her on the gurney and placing her in the ambulance. Toby continued to force air into her mouth while he attempted to attach an IV to her severely burnt hand.

FLASH_ a flaming match held in a hand with red nail polish _FLASH_ needles _FLASH _**Will you be good?**_

Toby fell back into the cabinet behind him and medical equipment crashed onto the floor. He stared at the girl in shock, gasping slightly after the hit. Toby wondered if she had heard the voice, too. Did she do as it said?

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Toby stood outside the room where the woman with the horrific burns was now resting. It had been eighteen hours since they had brought her in; Toby had stayed awake for the entire time, keeping his mental barriers up, not wanting to risk another unwanted intrusion into his mind.

"You look terrible." Toby turned to see Charlie, who had sneaked up behind him.

He turned around, faking a smile, because he didn't just _look_ awful, he _felt_ awful. "Hello to you, too."

"Have you slept at all?" Charlie seemed genuinely concerned about his welfare. Behind her the homeless guy from when he had left the ER a couple of days ago sat muttering to himself about the voices that only appeared in his head. "Hello? Are you okay?" Charlie waved her hand in front of Toby's face in a bid to get his attention.

"Yes, I'm fine. I think the two cases are related," Toby said.

"What two cases?" Charlie looked perplexed.

"Sarah Donnelly and our Jane Doe over there," Toby pointed vaguely in the burnt woman's direction.

"And what gave you that idea? Did you get a hit?"

"Sort of. Who ever did it had red nail polish."

"Well that's going to look great on my report: 'a paramedic had a vision of red nail polish at both scenes'. Come back with something more substantial and I'll look into it. And, Toby, go to bed – when was the last time you slept?"

Toby cocked his head to the side, mentally figuring out how long it had been since he had last slept. "Bout twenty one hours ago, and my next shift starts in a couple of hours, but I'm fine, don't worry."

"If I got a dollar every time you said that to me when it obviously wasn't true I would be a millionaire. Go to bed." Charlie turned and went to go talk to one of the night shift doctors, presumably about their Jane Doe.

Toby, on the other hand, turned and went to the ambulance bay, intending to do some research on the case. In the break room, he turned on one of the ancient laptops and while he was waiting for it to load he thought about his mother and how she had burnt down the trailer and then dragged Toby away. He was desperately trying to remember if anyone had been following them, but Toby could only remember his mother pulling him through the woods and to the cliff edge.

Once the computer had turned on, Toby typed 'Sarah Donnelly' into the Patient Finder.

_Mother: Christine Donnelly – Deceased  
Father: Unknown  
DOB: __Unknown  
Next of Kin: Unknown  
Expected Discharge Date: __11/09/09, into the care of Dexter Paolini_

Toby stopped reading, guessing that Sarah was going into care. He minimised the Patient Finder, opened Google, and typed in 'Christine Donnelly'. Unfortunately, he found no mention of her on any of the usual websites, so he opened up the Patient Finder again and searched for her records, hoping for a clue as to any remaining family members.

_Mother: Unknown  
Father: Unknown  
DOB: 03/11/1979  
Next of Kin: Unknown  
Previous Hospital stays: 1983-1989 – Rockford Asylum  
1993-2003 – Hollydew Schizophrenic Clinic _

Toby stared at the summary. He clicked over for the full records and discovered that she had been in and out of day clinics and had been given so many drugs over her lifetime she had enough to open a drug store.

_Suffers from __delusions of grandeur, unwillingness to touch objects that have recently been touched by another person, OCD, visions, unwillingness to touch other people, believes can access recent memories, unresponsive to conventional treatment, EST showed significant results over a period of three to four months. _

Toby stopped reading. Could it be that Christine was telepathic like himself but instead accessed memories via touch? Toby hit the print button and the old Epson printer came to life, printing page after page of Christine's psychiatric history. Toby glanced down at the little clock at the side of the screen; it read 8.15. Toby stood up and exited out of Google and Patient Finder. He stretched and yawned, realising that he had now been awake for over twenty-five hours.

The ambulance bay came to life as the night shift finished and the day shift rolled to life. Toby, however, missed this as he was taking a cold shower; he did not want to relax for fear of letting down his mental barriers. With his hair still wet, he was back in the main bay waiting for Oz and leaning against the wall watching Ryder yell at one of the other paramedics for scratching the paintwork of one of his babies.

Finally, Oz came running in at 9.15 and straight into Ryder.

"Why are you late?" Ryder asked, looking down at Oz.

"Erm… overslept." Oz seemed to regret his decision to tell the truth almost immediately after it escaped his mouth.

"So while you were catching up on your beauty sleep, your esteemed colleagues were out saving lives."

"Erm… yes." Oz looked extremely awkward. 'H_elp me out here, buddy,_' he sent out the silent plea.

"Sir, he was late because of me." Ryder turned to look at him. "I broke his phone, so he didn't have an alarm." Toby wasn't a praying man but when he heard a phone ringing in the vicinity of Oz and Ryder he was ready to start, but unless Ryder was a big Young Thrilla fan it was more likely that it was Oz's phone.

Ryder raised his eyebrows as he said, "Don't you want to get that as your phone is miraculously fixed?"

Oz pulled out a black cell phone from his pocket. "Ray? Toby, it's for you." Oz threw the phone about three feet to Toby's left and he had to jump to prevent it from crashing on the floor.

"Hello? Ray, why are you phoning Oz?" he whispered into Oz's phone. This was fruitless, however, as Ryder had started shouting at Oz to the point that it felt like he must have had a 300-watt speaker in his voice box.

"You didn't pick up." Toby glanced at his cell and saw that he had missed three calls. "I've had a breakthrough, can you come to the university? Bring Oz and Liv if you want; it concerns them too."

"I suppose so, but I'mwe are working now. Maybe around six o'clock."

"Great. Look, I've got to go, I have to go teach, uh, I will see you around six," Ray said, and the line went dead, leaving Toby with the annoying noise of the dial tone ringing in his ears.. He glanced up. Ryder was walking towards the lockers with his hands behind his back muttering about insolence, whereas Oz was wandering in his direction.

"Thanks for trying, man, I appreciate it." Oz said as he held out his hand for the phone and Toby dropped it in his hand with his usual cocky grin.

Then they both automatically moved towards their belts as their pagers started beeping. "Suspected cardiac arrest in St Clair Ave E." Toby was the first to get to his pager and they both ran towards their ambulance. Oz turned on the sirens and they pulled out of the garage and onto the road.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Toby walked into the police department and started to head towards Detective Marks' desk. She was engrossed in her paper work and didn't see him until he was right above her.

"TOBY!" she exclaimed, jumping a little. "Don't do that."

"I have a theory," Toby said pulling a chair from an empty desk and sitting next to her.

"You got any evidence?" she asked, despite already knowing that the mind-reader rarely came to her with anything substantial, evidence-wise.

"They were telepaths," Toby said.

"Are you seriously expecting me to believe that there are at least three telepaths running around Toronto? Maybe if this was a US TV show I might believe it, but in real life this doesn't really happen."

Toby pulled out Christine's medical file. "Look," he said, pointing at the psychiatric summary. "It says she could get memories from objects."

"No, Toby, it says she _thought_ she could." Charlie looked at Toby, a more sympathetic expression on her face "I know you don't want to be alone in this, but you can't assume everyone who hears voices is a telepath, the world isn't that special."

"It's not just that. I got a hit off that burn victim: she was hearing the same voice I am. We find the voice, we find the killer."

"What voice?" Toby's eyes widened; he hadn't wanted anyone but Ray to know about the mysterious voice.

"It doesn't matter. Look, Ray has a theory, but before I go see him I need to figure out who out Jane Doe is, see if she's telepathic too."

"Do you think this person is after telepaths?"

"Maybe – look, do you have any leads on the burn victim?" Toby said, dismissing her question.

"She doesn't live in the building. We scanned her through the criminal database, but her fingers were so badly burnt we only could get partial prints."

"And?" Toby asked.

"Ten possible matches." Toby's face fell; how he was meant to narrow that down before six o'clock was anyone's guess. "However," Charlie started to type into the computer, "only one of them has ever been put into psychiatric care: Lucy Evans." She turned the screen so Toby could see it better. "Breakdown at a stadium. She was screaming that she couldn't take the voices, but after seventy-two hours she was released from Hollydew Schizophrenic Clinic,"

"Hollydew, I've heard that name before. Christine Donnelly went there and maybe that's the connection. Try to get patient lists, I have to go meet Ray."

"Do you think his theory will have something to do with the case?" Charlie asked, looking hopeful.

"Possibly." Toby waved goodbye and ran down the stairs.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Toby sat in the back of the tram, which was full fit to bursting. A small baby was crying at the front of the tram; her mother cooed softly to calm her down.

FLASH_ "Do you like your little brother?" _FLASH _"Run. Hide."_

Toby shook slightly. The memory had broken through the mental barriers that he had been keeping up for almost thirty-six hours, and now this single memory opened the floodgates as 2.5 million people's thoughts raced through his brain. He put his head in his arms and concentrated on not hearing and slowly the throng of voices reduced until he could barely hear them.

The tram stopped and people got off, and Toby saw the man from the park the other day get on. Sarah's father shuffled into a seat looking even more exhausted than Toby did.

"Hello?" Toby said quietly to the man.

"It's you, the paramedic!" The man seemed shocked and slightly afraid. Toby fought against his instinct to read his mind and find out what he had been thinking.

"Yes, it's Toby Logan." Toby smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.

"Robert Wilson," the man said before turning to look out of the tram window at the people in the street.

"Do you know who killed Christine?" Toby said. Robert looked surprised and the hint of fear returned to his face.

"No."

_Hollydew__. I should have done as she said._ The thought burst through Toby's defences.

FLASH _Fingers with red nail polish typing on a key board. _

FLASH _Get me your daughter._

FLASH_ Blood dripping down the red nails and splashing onto the leaves below. _"Are you okay?" Robert asked, seemingly unaware of what had just happened.

"Who is she? The lady with red nail polish." If Robert had looked afraid before, it was nothing to how he looked now; he jumped up out of his seat, off the tram and into the traffic. Toby followed, weaving between the cars to get to the sidewalk, but Robert was ahead of him and he dived into an alley and scaled a fence. Toby jumped up to follow but he was so exhausted from lack of sleep that not even the adrenalin coursing through his veins gave him enough energy to follow.

"DAMMIT!" Toby returned to the main road and decided to walk the rest of the way to the university despite the fact that his legs were beginning to feel like lead beneath him.

**A/N** I know he doesn't get on a tram in the TV Show but Toronto does have them and he can't get Taxis all the time it would be more expensive than a car. Oh and lots of action next chapter so review. But I won't get the next chapter out until I return from Sweden, I'll probably write it out here, this place is so beautiful and inspiring but I won't post until I return to England.

Oh and review


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: hello i'm back from the dead, just to warn you i haven't written anything apart from science essays in years, so don't expect this chapter to be very good. I have actually outlined the story and we have 3 or 4 chapters left really. And chapter four is about ¼ written so should be out soon. **

**Sorry again for the long long long wait and I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter Three

To Toby it felt like hours but in reality the walk was probably only twenty minutes, but by the time he arrived his legs felt like jelly and he could barely stand. He somehow made it into the psychology building and collapsed in a chair in Ray's office. The chair was cosy and Toby felt himself relaxing into it, his eyelids were heavy and they started to close seemingly of their own accord.

Toby was jolted awake after just a few seconds by Ray's voice "Hello Toby,"

"Erm, hi, sorry I'm late. I met the little girl's father on the tram."

"It's quite alright. Now Toby I have a confession to make, please do not get angry," Ray said.

Toby's face scrunched up with confusion, "Okay."

"You are not the only telepath I've worked with." Ray sighed, a huge sigh of what could only be relief; like a huge weight had been removed from his chest.

"I'm sorry, what?" Toby said his voice raised slightly, "All these years I've been alone with this and you've been lying to me!"

"Toby wait,"

Toby stood up out of his chair, anger radiating from him, "What else have you been lying about Ray? Any other secrets you've been keeping from me almost my entire life?"

"Toby listen!" _Please._

Toby stood, towering above Ray frozen in his place, he didn't know why but he felt like he owed it to Ray to at least let him explain. Toby sat back down in his chair, crossing his arms protectively and stared at Ray with real malice in his eyes. "Go on then, explain why you betrayed me."

"You are the only telepath I've ever encountered outside the clinical setting, every other person I've ever met with a gift like yours has been driven mad by it. Christine Donnelly had enormous strength, but even she was so doped up on medication it's a miracle she could function in the real world."

"So that's no reason for you not to introduce me to them, at least I wouldn't be alone. At least I would know i'm not the only freak out there!"

"But you would be alone, no-one else's gift even came close to being like yours, they could read the minds of someone maybe a metre away and that drove them insane. You on the other hand could read an entire building, or a street, or if you tried a city, and you could control it. Keep your sanity, do you have any idea how unique that is?"

"I still don't understand why you didn't tell me," Toby said.

"I guess I was just trying to protect you, to me you'll always be a boy in need of protection, I didn't want you to have to deal with what this ability can do to a mind. You've got enough on your plate." Ray's eyes darted to the floor _I'm sorry Toby, can you forgive me?_

"No, I don't think I can Ray! Goodbye!" Toby stood up violently the chair he was sitting on tumbling over and he stormed out of the room.

"Toby, wait!" Ray shouted.

_TOBY, COME BACK!_

Toby started to run, he ran at full speed, _TOBY PLEASE, _but he could still hear Ray in his head. Eventually Toby collapsed in a side street his head was quiet for what felt like the first time in an age. Ray's voice had left him, and the rest of the thoughts of the city seemed to have stopped just for a moment. Toby felt peace as he lay in the middle of the road looking up at the orange glow of the street lights. He didn't know where he was or how long he'd been running for, but his legs were on fire and his grey tee shirt was soaked with sweat.

The next thing Toby was aware of was a bright white light that filled up his whole world, he couldn't hear anything, all he could see was this light. Toby couldn't feel anything either the light was the only thing he was aware of. He shut his eyes and welcomed the darkness and the silence.

"Sir, Sir." Toby felt himself being shook, his whole body was moving but not by his hand. Someone was shaking him like a rag doll in the road.

"Hmmmm" He managed to say.

_Just another drunk._

_Waste of time._

_Is he okay._

The silence was gone, Toby opened his eyes and the white light returned but Toby realised it was just the headlights of a car, he raised his arm to shield his eyes and looked around. A few people stood around him and there was a car stopped in the road about a metre away from him and a police car just behind that. It's blue flashing lights illuminating the street in a strange kind of glow.

"Mind telling me what you are doing in the middle of the road sir?" The police officer said.

"Sorry I guess I passed out, won't happen again officer," Toby got up unsteadily but he was on his feet.

_This guy is so hammered I'm surprised he can talk_

"I haven't been drinking officer, I just had a nasty headache, do you mind telling me where I could hail a cab?"

_Should I take him in and deal with all that paperwork at 3am?_

"Try the main road, it's just up there," He said pointing it out, "Now get out of my sight!"

_Fucking punk arse kids wasting my time_

"Thanks officer,"

Toby began walking down the street, thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't been arrested. He turned onto the main road when he was hit with a sudden realization, he can't have left Ray's after eight and there is no way he had managed to run for so many hours to be found passed out at 3am. Where had all the time gone he must have lost at least six hours if not more? How had he not noticed? What had he been doing in all those hours?

Toby spotted a taxi rank outside a club and headed towards it, getting in the first available taxi and asking the driver to take him home.

"So, rough night?" The female voice said from the front of the cab.

"I guess so," Toby replied.

The cab fell silent once again for the remaining half an hour it took to cross town and get to Toby's apartment block.

"That'll be $30, please" Toby's eyebrows raised but he reached into his wallet to get the money passing it to the taxi driver who had red painted nails that clasped around the notes.

"Wait, turn around!" Toby said when he realised who was in the front seat. The cab driver obliged and Toby found himself facing a middle age, middle eastern, man who definitely did not have red painted nails. "Sorry," Toby said blushing slightly and he got out of the car and he headed inside. Once Toby was in his apartment he collapsed onto his bed and instantly fell asleep.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLS

"_No, what are you doing?" It was Sarah Donnelly she sat in the room crying. The walls were wet and the whole room smelled of damp, the room was slightly lit by a single lightbulb in the middle of the room above Sarah, but it was not very bright._

_Someone was tying the girl up, and a gag was placed around her mouth preventing her from making any coherent noises._

"_Sssh little girl, I'm not gonna hurt you," It was a man's voice that came out of the darkness._

_The room was suddenly lit up as a door opened, a woman walked in her face covered in shadow. "Good, good, now let's have some fun shall we."_

Toby woke with a jolt, he was covered with sweat and his shirt was sticking to his back like a second layer of skin. Sun was filtering into his room through the gaps in the blinds bathing the room in an orange glow. Toby looked over at his alarm clock the red numbers glowed bright telling him it was seven, Toby rubbed his eyes and collapsed back into his bed. He shut his eyes trying to get back to sleep, but he felt wide awake and could sense that sleep would only allude him.

He rolled over and out of bed, he stumbled into his bathroom and looked in the mirror. What he saw shocked him, he looked like a zombie, he had huge bags under his eyes and his skin was white and pasty. But what worried him the most was the blood trickling out of his nose, there was dried blood too so he figured he must have had another nose bleed earlier but not noticed it.

"What is happening to me?" Toby whispered to himself, he stared at his reflection some more as if he was looking for answers within the mirror.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

Toby arrived into work on his bike, he was there an hour early due to his sudden wake up in the morning. After locking his bike up he heads towards the hospital and into the children's ward where Sarah should have been transferred to once she left the ER. Toby walked up towards a nurse who was sitting at the nurses station reading a magazine.

"Hello, my name is Toby Logan, I am a paramedic at the hospital. Can you tell me where a Sarah Donnelly's bed is?" He asked

The nurse looked up at Toby a look of annoyance on her face. "Sure, let me check," Toby smiled and turned slightly to look down the corridor, "Sorry she was discharged AMA last night by her Father,"

Toby turned to face her, "What time?"

"Sevenish,"

"Have you got an address for the father?"

"Sure, 16 Pleasant Grove,"

"Thanks a lot," Toby said and smiled.

Toby turned and headed back down the corridor, _How could I let this happen?. _Toby turned towards the voice and saw Robert sat on the floor his head in his arms

"Hey, Robert?" Toby said and Robert's head jerked up and his eyes opened with panic. _Who is this guy?_

"Just go away, okay don't get involved!" Robert stood up, turned and headed down the corridor away from Toby.

"Stop, I can help you find your daughter." Toby said, and Robert stopped and turned to face him.

"How? How could you help me? How could anyone help me?"

"I've seen her, the lady with the red nail polish,"

"You don't even know who she is. She's nobody, she's not important," Robert said his voice cracking.

"She has your daughter," with that Robert attacked Toby and pinned him up against the wall.

"I want you to tell me exactly what makes you think that, and I want you to tell me now, or so help me God I will kill you!" Robert said. _Are we quite clear on that!_

"I saw it, in my mind." Robert let him go and smiled, then laughed, which turned to hysterical crying laughter.

"You're one of them, of course you are, well I've got news for you bud, you can't always trust what you hear," With that Robert stormed away.

"Wait you can't leave me, tell me what's going on, please I deserve to know!" A nurse walked past and gave Toby a strange sideways glance.

Robert stopped walking again, "Okay, maybe you'll be able to help, so I'll tell you the basics, what you need to know."

"Thank-You" Toby said and jogged slightly to catch up with him.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

Robert and Toby sat on a bench just outside the front entrance of the hospital, it was a beautiful day, completely clear skies and the grass was still damp with dew. The hospital loomed tall above them but did not cast a shadow and birds sang around them.

Robert sighed and began to talk, "In the 60's the US government began a programme to create telepaths to use against the Russians. The took people from prisons and off the street and injected them with what we call Substance C. To a large degree it worked, but the results were not what they wanted, most telepaths had to touch a person or an object to be able to read their minds. Those that could do it remotely had a very small range. The program ran until the early 80s, after that a company was set up to monitor the subjects as they entered a normal society, my father worked for this company"

"So I'm just a government experiment, grown in a lab, just a lab rat." Toby said.

"I don't know the specifics of your case, but yes your mother would have definitely been a part of the program, or you may have been taken from your birth parents as a baby and injected with the substance"

"Okay, okay, go on what happened next?" Toby said, trying to compose himself.

"Well at the end of the government program we were told there was about 20 subjects left still alive, so this company provided them with a great big house to live in outside of New York. That is where my father worked, he'd take me in to work sometimes. That is how I met Christine and we were best of friends. One weekend me and my father travelled to the head office in Washington DC and found that the company were selling the remaining telepaths all around the world to people and organisations for huge sums of money. Our house in New York was just one of many houses around the country where the telepaths were 'stored' until they could be sold."

"How many of us were sold?" Toby asked.

"I wouldn't know, I was only 13 and walked into the wrong meeting looking for my father. That's how I found out. This was all in 1982 and when I told my Father he tried to leave the company but they wouldn't let him, so we ran away and I demanded we take Christine with us. So we adopted new identities and tried to make a life here. Christine had some serious issues with living in such a big city but we had to, they'd never look for us in a place like this."

"Is Sarah a telepath?"

"Yes, not very powerful one, she needs direct contact and then even then she can only hear powerful thoughts."

With that Robert stood up "Are you leaving?" Toby asked

"Yes, if I were you I would stay out of this mess, the company have Sarah and you won't be able to get her back. Just carry on with your life, live under the radar. I'll find Sarah alone, no one else needs to get involved."_ Please stay out of this if you can, don't ruin your life._

"Okay, if you're sure, I'll stay out of it. But can I ask one more question?"

"If you must."

"Who is the lady with red painted nails?"

Robert chuckled, "I don't know, Christine has been going on about it for years, I just thought she was a figment of her imagination."

"Thank-You" Toby said and Robert walked away towards the main road and then into a taxi. Toby sat back against the bench and put his hands on his head, it was starting to hurt slightly. This was becoming a lot more complicated than he originally thought, he had to find the girl, if he could find her maybe he could find the woman and get this whole mess sorted.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

"You look like death warmed over," Oz said giving Toby a worried look. "Sure you're gonna be okay to work?"

"I'm fine Oz" Toby said before clambering into the ambulance.

Toby head rested against the window of the ambulance as they drove around. They had only had one call that morning and had spent the rest of the day driving around Toronto city centre. Toby's eyes slid shut for just a second.

_**HELP!**_It was Sarah's voice bursting into his mind which caused the floodgates to open.

_Chips, stereo, killer, coke, mom, playground, paper, ketchup_ It felt like all of Toronto's inhabitants were talking at once in his head. 

_**HELP!**__The room flashed back into view, but it was not only Sarah in there, there was a woman as well with blonde hair, she was gagged as well. The woman was also filthy, her clothes were nothing more than rags and her hands were tied together with a white cable tie._

"AH" Toby screamed, his head felt like it had split open and every single muscle had tightened up. Blood was gushing from his nose and covering his hands and uniform with the wetness.

_**HELP!**__ clothes wendy love shopping peter duck park chemical IKEA friends lamp teddy_. Sarah's voice was louder than everyone elses, she was screaming for help while the entire city was chatting away inside his head.

Oz had stopped the ambulance and he ran to the other side where Toby was and he opened the door. Inside Toby began to seize every single muscle in his body shaking and contracting. Toby had slid down slightly and his stomach kept violently hitting the plastic dashboard. Oz tried to hold him down and stop him from hurting himself but to no avail.

_**HELP!**_

Toby muscle spasms began to slow and he eyes which had been open the entire time even though they weren't seeing anything fell shut and he lost consciousness. Blood was still pouring from his nose.

**A/N: Look this is gonna sound strange but I want you to tell me where I have gone wrong in the writing of this chapter. It's been so long since I've written anything that I feel my writing has regressed. So if you want to leave a constructive criticism review that would be much appreciated and I won't take offense if you are a little mean to me... **

**Review people!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N**__Hey it's me again, this is unbeta'd so sorry for any mistakes.

Chapter Four

_**William why haven't you been listening to me? Are you trying to make me angry?**_

The first thing Toby was aware of was a rhythmic beeping sound, he opened his eyes where a fluorescent white light filled his vision, blinding him. Toby quickly shut his eyes again and listened more. He could hear a gentle drip of the IV and the pitter-patter of footsteps out in the corridor. Toby deduced that he was in a hospital, though for what reason he did not know why. Toby listened again to the beeping sound until he fell back into unconscious.

_**William I'm coming to get you.**_

Toby woke again, this time he opened his eyes straight away. There was a nurse in the room, she was fiddling with a grey clip that was attached to his big toe. The room was darker than it was earlier and there wasn't anyone walking in the corridor outside his room.

"Hello, Toby," The nurse said moving around the bed to where his head was, so she could look down over moaned, his brain felt oddly disconnected from the rest of his body. He felt like the world was moving in slow motion. "It's okay sweetie, you go back to sleep now," The nurse said and toby drifted off back to sleep.

_**William this is the last time I am going to ask for you! Come see me right now or I will have to act.**_

Toby woke and he could feel motion, he opened his eyes and looked up to see moving white squares of light above him. He was struggling to figure out what was going on when a face appeared above him, it was a porter.

"Hello, back with us are you?"

"What's," Toby said weakly.

"We're taking you down for an MRI scan," the man said.

"Why?" Toby had a bit more strength in his voice now,

"I don't know I'm afraid, I just push the beds around," The man said smiling.

Toby was feeling tired again, but he tried to stay conscious. The hospital was in full swing, and he felt like as if the bed was swinging with it. Everyone was just a blur of bright colours to him. After what seemed like only a few seconds they arrived at the radiology department, he had never been to this part of the hospital before and looked around to the huge white machine in front of him.

"Now Toby, we are going to move you onto the MRI machine and then it is going to move you inside it. Only your head will be inside the machine, okay? And you'll be in there for about 10 minutes. Is that okay?"

Toby barely understood what the man in the white coat had said, so he nodded and they helped him on to the MRI table. Everything felt nauseating, and he drifted off again...

LSLSLSLSLSLSLS

_**She is going to die because of you, you know that right?**_

Toby awoke, and the last thing he remembered was being in the MRI room. He wondered if something had gone wrong and that was why he was back in his room.

"Hey, Toby!" He heard and looked over to see his Oz sitting in the chair next to him.

"Hey," Toby realised there was something on his face that hadn't been there before and he reached up to take it off.

Oz grabbed his arm lightly, "hold it there bud, you need that. It's an oxygen mask."

"Why?" Toby didn't need to say anymore when Oz cut in.

"You had a seizure, do you not remember?" Toby shook his head, "well you scared the hell out of me."

_**This is all your fault you know**_

Toby's face scrunched up in pain as he put his hand to his temple.

"Do you have a headache?"

"Yes, only when she talks to me though." Toby said.

"When who talks to you?"

"The woman, I have to get out of here Oz!" With that said Toby started moving in an attempt to get up out of bed.

"Hey hold it Toby, you can't leave you're sick," Oz said standing up and resting his hand on Toby's chest.

"You don't understand!" Toby said ripping off his oxygen mask, "She gonna hurt her!"

"Hurt who? Just tell me and I'll get detective Marks to have a look at it, sound good?"

"Get off me!" Toby said, struggling in earnest. He ripped out his IV and blood started to trickle out of the wound. Oz stood there unsure of what to do, he looked around and sounded the alarm. Which only seemed to make Toby more eager to get out, but three nurses and a doctor came flooding into the room and held him down.

"Look, Toby you have to calm down." One of the doctors said, Oz stood back against the wall still feeling helpless.

"Fine, fine. But you have to listen to me, a little girl's life is at risk. You have to save her." Toby said, collapsing back onto the pillow admitting defeat.

"I see you've woken up, how are you feeling Mr Logan?" The doctor asked, he was young looking, about the same age as Toby with a shock of ginger hair and piercing green eyes.

"I'm fine, what happened?" Toby asked.

"You had a seizure in the ambulance, you've been in and out of consciousness for the last two days." Toby stared at the young doctor, he'd missed two days without even realising it. One of the nurses moved forward to him and grabbed his hand to reattach the IV, he instinctively pulled away his hand.

"I need to pop another IV in, you're sick Mr Logan, it'll help you." the nurse said and Toby moved his hand back towards her and she popped the catheter in. Toby flinched slightly at the needle going but didn't move to stop her.

Toby looked back towards the doctor, "What's wrong with me then doc?" he said smiling a little.

"To be honest, we don't know, when we did the EEG your brain was firing off electrical impulses at such a high voltage the technician didn't know what to make of it. And your MRI showed results like we've never seen before, your brain was just a mess of unexplained activity. It also showed some swelling on the brain, just about everywhere really. It's a wonder you are even awake right now"

"What does that mean?"

"Well to be honest we don't know, we've never seen anything like this before." The doctor said, pausing waiting for Toby to respond but none came "Do you have any other questions?" The doctor asked

"No, no, thank you doc." Toby said.

Oz sat down on the lime green chair next to the bed, the plastic coating squeaked as he sat down. The noise filled the room and Toby glanced over at his friend before returning to staring at the ceiling.

"So, it's been hell around here with you out of it. Liv has been running around the ER shouting at everyone who looks at her funny; Charlie keeps making up excuses to come to the hospital and even Ryder has been acting strange." His voice lowered to a whisper, "He's being really nice to me."

Toby smiled, "Glad to know you all worried about me, has Charlie made any headway with the case?"

Oz's smile fell, "Look Toby you are in no condition to be working a case, Charlie is a good detective she can figure out those fires without your help."

"But-"

"No buts you are not allowed to do anything that requires you to use your telepathy until further notice." Oz said, a sense of authority in his voice that almost had Toby agreeing with him.

"Okay, I'll stay away I promise, just let me talk to Charlie about what I saw when I was out, it could help," Toby said.

"Fine, fine, whatever don't listen to me." Oz said, "You are going to kill yourself Toby, you already nearly did it!" With that, Oz stood up and left the room. He didn't want to get really angry with Toby while he looked so ill. Toby watched him walk past the window in his room and disappear into the hospital and then resumed his previous activity of staring at the ceiling trying to keep the voices out of his head.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Time passed but Toby wasn't sure how much, he hadn't slept, he had been blocking out his telepathy. The most effective way to do this was just to stare at the ceiling completely focused on keeping the voices away. Nurses had come and gone but he just continued to stare and when he tried to sleep something was stopping him everytime he shut his eyes for longer than a few seconds he would be forced awake by a sharp pain in his head. He was jolted out of his daze when the door opened and Liv walked in.

"Hey Toby" She said and reached for his chart, scanning it before putting it back in its place.

"Hey Liv, so are you my doctor then?" Toby asked.

"No, Dr Wainwright is, i'm an ER doctor and you're in intensive care." Liv said gently, using her doctor voice.

"Oh really, I don't think my condition is that bad," Toby said, "Speaking of not feeling that bad, mind if you help me up."

"Toby, have you seen yourself recently. You are not getting up today, maybe when you are feeling stronger." Toby sat up slightly, just the movement caused his head to flare up and he instinctively put his hand up to his forehead. This only caused more pain, and he scrunched up his face in pain. "Toby are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just give me a second." He said breathing heavily. Liv obliged, resting her hand on his and sitting down on the chair. The pain in Toby's head receded and for the first time Toby really examined himself. He had an NG tube in his nose, Toby was baffled as to how he had missed that before, he also had a catheter downstairs for waste disposal. The very thought made Toby feel embarrassed, he had an IV in his left hand and a pulse oximeter on his right big toe. Luckily Toby noticed the oxygen mask hadn't been put back after his escape attempt earlier, so they must be thinking he was a little bit better.

"Feeling better?" Liv asked.

"Much thank-you," Toby said. The two of them continued to chat, neither of them mentioning the elephant in the room that was Toby's illness and Toby loved her for that. He could tell she was very worried but she wasn't visiting him as a doctor but as a friend.

All of that changed just as Liv was about to leave, they were just saying their goodbyes when Toby had another tonic-clonic seizure, Liv ran forward to hold Toby onto the bed so that he wouldn't fall off and she hit the call button. It was all over within about 15 seconds but they felt like the longest 15 seconds of her life. Two nurses had flooded into the room without Liv noticing and the ginger doctor ran in just as Toby muscles had stopped spasming.

Toby's eyes opened, "Whaat," He slurred.

"Don't worry Toby you had a seizure, you'll be alright the effects will wear off soon," Liv said leaning over to look at Toby in the eyes. He groggily shut and then opened them again, only half aware of his surroundings. A sharp jolt ran through his body like a flash of lightning and he spasmed on the bed. Everyone around him moved closer.

"Can't sleep," Toby said, "Huurts,"

"What do you mean? Toby you can sleep if you want to, it's perfectly normal after an event like that." Liv said, worry thick in her voice.

"No, it hurts," Toby said moving his hand and gesturing towards his head. Toby shut his eyes again, unable to fight a wave of exhaustion that had come upon him. He had almost dozed off when the sharp pain came back and he was forced to open his eyes again. His eyes were watering up with a combination of the pain, confusion and exhaustion.

"Okay get me 10mg of morphine," Said the doctor to one of the nurses and she walked out of the room and returned with a needle which she injected into the IV.

Toby's eyes rolled and returned to the spot on the ceiling, the pain had dulled slightly but it still felt like someone was hammering a thousand nails into his brain. The pain had spread slightly to his arms and legs as well, they ached dully.

"Toby, Toby are you with us?" Liv said waving her hand over his eyes. Toby heard her but didn't have the energy to respond. He just continued to stare at that spot, unable to sleep, or to react to anything around him.

"Don't worry 'mam," The doctor said, "Seizures like that can leave a patient very confused and disorientated, the pain medication should send him to sleep."

"I know, I'm a doctor." Liv said angrily, "But I think this is more than just post-seizure disorientation."

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

"Hey Toby, Oz said you wanted to talk to me." Charlie's voice came from the chair, and Toby turned to look at her, he hadn't even noticed her coming in.

"Did you get any information about Hollydew?" Toby asked cutting straight to the point.

"Yes, but I'm not sure you should be working on this," Charlie said, reluctant to tell him.

"Please, Charlie I've got some more information on the case and I may be able to piece something together in here."

"Look Toby I am under strict instructions not to make you agitated, Oz and Liv are very protective over you, you know that right. They have been spending all the free time they have looking over your charts trying to figure out what they can do to help. I hope you can appreciate that." Charlie said.

"Charlie I can help with this case, I may be in a hospital bed but I'm not useless,"

"Listen I heard about your little escape attempt the other day, you have to promise me you won't leave this room"

"I promise Charlie,"

"Okay, okay" Charlie said, sighing before continuing "Both Christine Donnelly and Lucy Evans were treated at Hollydew as you know, but they weren't treated by the clinic doctors there. Your friend Ray treated them." Toby raised his eyebrows at that, "He also came in to treat five other patients, all of whom are either dead or missing. A Mr Andrew Ackles, and a Mrs Georgina King are missing, Georgina King has been missing for about eighteen months now, Andrew has been for about a two weeks,"

Toby, silently took in all the information before replying, "Sarah Donnelly, Christine's daughter has been kidnapped. She's being held somewhere with a blonde woman, it's a dark room, damp too possibly underground."

"Who did you read to get that?" Charlie asked.

"Sarah, but I don't think she is nearby, I think I read her from a lot further away than most people." Toby said, his voice was getting quieter.

"Okay I'll look right into it, but you look after yourself Toby," Charlie said patting Toby's hand before standing up to leave the room. "I'll find her, don't worry. Get some rest," Charlie said just as she reached the door. And with that she was gone.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

Toby had had two seizures in the last two hours when Ray came to visit him. His condition was a lot worse. The neurology department had attached electrodes to his head to perform a 24 hour EEG and his hair was thick and matted with 20 electrodes attached to it, the wires led to a small black recording device on a table at the top of Toby's bed. The wires were many different colours and shone brightly against his jet black hair.

Toby also hadn't slept since he had first properly woken up, which had been about twenty four hours ago. His eyes were red and bloodshot and his brain seemed to be running at a hundred miles an hour. Luckily those last twenty four hours had been completely silent, not even the woman had been able to break through Toby's barriers. Toby was now solely concentrating on keeping the barriers up, even the ceiling had lost its interest. His eyes were open but unseeing, all he could concentrate on was keeping up his defenses.

"Hey Toby, how are you feeling?" Ray's voice came through the clouds of Toby's brain. Toby blinked and his eyes moved in his general direction,

"Just peachy," Toby croaked

"Look I have an idea, I am going to prescribe you with the same drug I prescribed when you were 15, it seemed to work at reducing the intensity of your gift then and hopefully it'll work now." Ray got out a small white cardboard box, "I'm afraid I only have it oral form so you are going to have to swallow it okay?"

Toby nodded, both to the fact he could swallow it and to give permission to Ray to let him give him the drug. Ray stood up and pocked two pills out of the foil and plastic container. Toby opened his mouth and Ray dropped the pills inside, they tasted horrible and Toby had to quell the urge to gag. He managed to swallow them despite the acidic taste and he looked up at Ray who was smiling gently.

"Okay it should take about half an hour to take effect," Ray said sitting down on the chair, "You just get some rest,"

Ray was half asleep on the chair, the rhythmic sounds of the machines around him lulling him to sleep, when Toby spoke. "Hey Ray,"

"Toby!" Ray said standing up suddenly a huge great big grin on his face that lit it up completely. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better, I don't have to concentrate on keeping the voices out."

"Good, good." Ray said, noticing the way Toby's eyes were drooping slightly, "Get some rest Toby." And for the first time in two days Toby felt like he could oblige with that statement.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

Toby had always dreamshared as he called it that being when he slept his dreams would combine with those around him. So he could be having a dirty dream about Liv while his neighbour would be dreaming about werewolves and the two would mix together to create a strange confusing mess. But that night was different, he didn't dream so much as feel and see the lives of everyone in the city simultaneously. It was completely unlike anything he had ever felt before. It wasn't painful or even difficult for his brain to compute, it was like his gift had become him. He knew that Linda Shaws half way across town was watching Canada's next top model at the same time as Ralph the Bookie was being robbed at gunpoint. He couldn't see Sarah or the lady with red pointed nails, but Toby was secretly relieved about that it would have ruined the beauty of 200000 minds all talking in his head at once.

When Toby woke he was almost disappointed to be gone from his dream world, in that sleep he hadn't been Toby Logan the paramedic and part time detective he'd been everyone in the city he'd had sex with a hundred different people at the same time, he'd had a child, he'd spoken a thousand different languages and Toby didn't want to leave it. In the real world he was sick and could barely move, his body rebelling against his gift and children were being hurt.

Toby opened his eyes and saw a woman above him, she had jet black hair and sapphire eyes. She also had red painted nails.

"It's time to go William," she said.


End file.
